Absolute Beast Dominion

"But..." Brant looked at Leo.

"Serpents and Amphithere, or even serpents and feathered serpents, don't belong to the same species, you know?"

Brant explained.

"They belong to the same class of draconic beasts, not the same species, mind you."

Leo fell into thought and was compelled to read the description of his talent once again.

[Beastiary of Souls] — 8 stars

Effect 1: Can collect the beast essence from the core of the slain beast, making the core useless. Later, the stored essence can be used to enhance a similar type of tamed beast's bloodline and strength. The essence contains a random skill of the slain beast, which can be absorbed by the recipient beast.

Similar type of beasts... Leo contemplated.

Now that he saw it, it was never about the species. It was about similarities.

Let's see... Leo mentally pictured an Amphithere and the Infernal Serpent.

Long serpentine body, check.

Scaly body, check.

Since Brant said it was fire-breathing, common element, check.

As for the difference, it was the leathery wings of the Amphithere and no wings for the Infernal Serpent.

Indeed... an Amphithere is a better choice than a feathered serpent, Leo realised. Because a feathered serpent had feathers instead of scales.

As for the Amphithere and Infernal Serpent, the species of both creatures differed due to their wing anatomy. But that's what Leo's talent was capable of: mixing two species of similar beasts to create new variants.

There was also another thing.

>Fundamentally, altering a spirit beast's body structure is comparatively easier than that of a physical beast. Host's talent can indeed bring about unique changes in a spirit's body if used properly, and might even create never-before-seen or naturally impossible beasts.

That was the system's response when Leo was brainstorming things previously. Thus, the idea for the Infernal Serpent with wings had taken place in his head.

"So, it just breathes fire and flies?" Leo asked.

Brant shook his head.

"Its dominant element is wind. Pure fire-breathing Amphithere have only been found in Sunborn Empire—which we aren't allowed to interfere with."

"It was chosen because Lily's dominant element is wind; it will strengthen her more."

Leo nodded slowly, his brain already generating possibilities for what sort of combination would emerge and how he should mix the beast cores to achieve the desired result.

There were three ways he could combine the beasts.

1st was obvious: directly combine both the beast cores, and then Lily contracted the resulting beast.

2nd was Lily contracting the summoned Infernal Serpent and then using this Wind Amphithere to boost the serpent.

3rd was vice versa: Lily contracting the summoned Wind Amphithere first, then assimilating the Infernal Serpent's beast cores.

Each had its drawbacks.

The first's drawback was the uncertainty.

The second's drawback was the high chance of wings never appearing in the resulting beast because the Infernal Serpent's spirit rejected the structural transformation.

The third's only drawback was the loss of the Infernal Serpent's double heads. Meaning the wings would remain, but there was a high chance of losing the double-headed signature style.

Leo considered his own priorities.

I want something that could fly for Lily's next contract... In other words, going with the third option was the most valid.

And in Leo's thoughts, a 200-meter-long flying, fire-breathing serpent would be a lot more dangerous than something that slithered on the ground.

Not to mention, both Tarun and Brant had been rambling about how Lily could potentially obtain two beasts from one contract due to some speciality of the Amphithere. There was a high chance it was related to the Infernal Serpent's double head.

Meaning there was a high chance both heads would form a separate beast, in other words, a single-headed beast. And if the Amphithere was capable of doing two beast thing with one head, it was more than possible with the one-headed Leo was considering

There was also Pryde, another multiple-headed beast. So going with the 3rd option would bring diversity to Lily's contracts.

And I can always try to change things with my talents, so let's use this as a learning opportunity.

With that in mind, he focused on the snow-capped expanse in front of him, which was gradually thinning as they moved farther away from the academy centre.

Not even half an hour had passed, and they had already covered a distance greater than 15,000 kilometres.

Yes, they were out of the academy grounds, meaning the temple wouldn't be able to teleport them back if they received fatal damage.

But Leo and the others were rather relaxed, enjoying the scenery from above.

They had complete trust in Brant, which somehow made Brant feel good as he hummed some random song.

I haven't paid attention to it, but... the world feels rather flat... no, not flat, but the curvature is so unnoticeable that it looks flat... Leo muttered.

Because the distance he was actually able to see was so vast that every side ended up with tall mountains or plateaus, as if the mountains were marking the end of the map. And the mountains weren't at equal distances; some were around a few thousand kilometres apart, some hundreds, and some were so far away that his eyes could only see the fog.

Well, fog could be seen even on the mountain range only about 50 kilometres away, but his eyesight had improved so much that it could pierce through the fog and see things beyond.

Wait, 50 kilometres?

Leo suddenly realised they were heading into that same mountain range. His thoughts weren't even over when he found himself surrounded by rocky mountain peaks skewering the heavens.

The wind around them was so strong that he could have sworn he saw a huge boulder falling from the sky sway midair and change its landing spot.

He also spotted a group of beasts using the winds as lift to climb high, flapping just enough to reach a particular place and letting the wind do the rest—continuing high into the mountain heights.

But the interesting thing was, they looked like baby beasts.

Kestrel Chick (Low 2-star) — Super Bloodline

Kestrel Chick (Peak 1-star) — Super Bloodline

...

..

.

"They are Kestrels," Brant explained when he saw Leo and the others looking at them.

"From what it seems, the parents are teaching their chicks to use the wind to fly. Though they aren't visible, they will appear the instant their chicks are in danger. Some even reach 6-star rank; let's not intervene." Saying that, Brant changed his course of flight.

His Leviastorm Eagle had already slowed down as if the destination was near.

Suddenly, Leo spotted an enormous cage of pure ice in the distance, where the mountain peaks formed a bowl-shaped hollow.

The ice used many footholds and tethers along the mountain lengths all around as support to form the structure. Some ice beams even looked more than a few kilometres long and tens of metres wide, supporting the heavy structure.

But before Leo could see anything more, he spotted a serpentine beast—almost 100 metres long—lying on the ice cage floor. And a man with wild hair was looking stupefied at the scene as he scratched his moustache.

It was Tarun, and he was floating right in front of the beast's face, which was bleeding profusely, though most of it had already frozen and the beast looked almost dead.

"Well... That's the Wind Amphithere? I guess half of your work is already done... eh?" Brant looked equally confused.

Wind Amphithere (High 4-star) - Noble Bloodline (Flame Variant)

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!